For Portsmouth Atlantic Insurance, charity more about faces than company names

Sometimes it seems you can’t go two full commercial breaks without seeing one or another company touting its various charitable initiatives.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong whatsoever with the end result: lending a helping hand to those in need. But it’s also true that doing so can risk suggesting a certain, curious cynicism – as if the acts and resulting ads are meant to mask or salve over something else entirely.

Which is what makes the folks at Portsmouth Atlantic Insurance (PAI) so unique: for them, charity and community involvement have always been less about boosting the bottom line than another, far more categorical good.

“I just think we have a lot of good-hearted people working for the company,” says Jon Merwin, Owner of PAI. “We don’t want to be just an insurance company 24-7, but it’s also not like we’re broadcasting our community involvement, either.”

After serving as a partner for another, Salem-based insurance agency for three years, Merwin decided to strike out on his own, opening PAI in 2008. All told, PAI currently insures over 2,000 clients throughout the Seacoast New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts regions.

Of course, the crux of PAI has always been straightforward: provide a trusted, local insurance alternative – home, auto, life, the whole nine – that is as individually-tailored as it is comprehensive. But long after office lights are flipped or doors locked for the weekend, the PAI team’s community-building efforts continue apace.

Take Cathy Merwin, Jon’s mother, mentor, and current in-house Customer Service guru, whose extracurriculars include serving as a guardian ad litem (GAL) for the Court Appointed Special Advocates of New Hampshire – wherein she’s helped neglected and abused children for the past 15 years – and volunteering for the Inter-Lakes “Got Lunch” program.

Or Krissy Bell, a PAI Agentwho devotes countless off-hours to Reach the Beach (the famed 200 mile race from Cannon Mountain to Hampton Beach) and the Spartan Race – a sponsor of the Home For Our Troops Program – as well as The Chase Home, a local non-profit tasked with helping at-risk and disadvantage youth.

Another PAI Agent, Jessica Kelley, has lent support to a number of events and initiatives on behalf of Moore Fight More Strength, an organization launched to both help raise Breast Cancer awareness and funds for Jessica Moore, the organization’s namesake and an old friend of Kelley’s. She also spearheaded PAI’s Insurance For a Cause campaign, wherein agents donated a portion of their policy commissions.

Then there’s Merwin himself, a regular participant in both Reach the Beach and Tough Mudder, a grueling 10-12 mile obstacle course – designed by the British Special Forces – that has donated close to $6 million to the Wounded Warriors Project since its 2010 inception.

To his credit – and as a reflection of the office’s genuine reluctance for self-promotion – Merwin admits that, in many cases, the events serve a duel purpose of both helping those in need, while at the same time providing a much-needed outlet from nine-to-five demands.

“I’ll admit it – Tough Mudder is really, really fun,” Merwin says with something of a laugh. “A big added benefit is assuring you’re staying healthy, but there’s also an additional adrenaline rush from knowing the end result is that you’re really helping others.”

While PAI has certainly made community involvement a pillar of their business, they’ve also taken to embracing another, equally curve-setting ethos: green. Paperless billing since 2005, 100% recycled paper, Seventh Generation Cleaning products, recycling printer and toner cartridges – Merwin and his team have adopted them all, in the process further setting themselves apart from industry peers.

Even on this front, the team’s give-back spirit shines through – literally and figuratively: back in may, a number of them participated in Run For the Sol, a 5K road race started by students in the Portsmouth High School ECO Club to help raise money for a massive solar photovoltaic system.

The end result is a company where a culture of community and caring isn’t a matter of mere marketing or focus group testing, but an authentic reflection of genuine New England values. Independence, honesty, and the solid sense of place captured perfectly by that ultimate symbol of stability – and the focal point of the company’s logo: an anchor.

“Everything about what we do – from our work to whatever causes we undertake on the side – there’s nothing cookie-cutter about it,” Merwin says. “We want people to see us as a genuine part of the community, and to put real faces to the name on that sign.

Portsmouth Atlantic Insurance is a Business Partner of Green Alliance, a Portsmouth organization committed to bringing together green-minded consumers and businesses throughout the Seacoast Region.

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Green Alliance

Green Alliance strives to increase the profits of businesses that are having the least impact on the environment and to encourage more sustainable business practices through "Business-to-Business" mentoring and strength in partnership. We also want ... Read Full